Chapter 16
I went to the door while Cassie and Monica cleaned themselves up. Strange, I could’ve sworn that Mimi had her key with her. Maybe she’d forgotten it and needed to be let back in.
One quick check through the peephole blew that theory out the water. It was a woman, a rather pretty woman, slightly more mature looking than some of the girls that had come over, but nevertheless a head turner.
She wore her red hair in a clean, loose, ponytail, with long side-bang fringes and chestnut brown eyes. Fair skin with a full flush and pouty lip.
And then there was her outfit.
Hoo boy, this girl did not hold back.
White cropped halter top with her bare midriff exposing a cute belly button, and a short pencil skirt beneath that. She wasn’t wearing fancy shoes; low-top sneakers actually.
Interesting choice, picking function over form, but hey, maybe she wanted to be able to run away from a creep. Either way, she certainly stood out, and I didn’t recall her showing up with any of Mimi or Cassie’s other friends.
A late arrival, I figured.
She was looking around a lot, scanning her surroundings with a presence and vigilance befitting a bout of nervousness, even though her face seemed otherwise solemn.
So, fully intending to dismiss the cutie to the pool downstairs, I clasped the door knob and gave it a turn and pull, swinging the door open to an air conditioned gust.
She flinched when I opened it, looking me up and down with an intense, piercing gaze. Like she’d seen a ghost.
“Hi,” I greeted in a low, plain voice.
“Hello…” she said, glancing over my shoulder at the dark sanctuary behind me.
“You looking for Mimi?” I asked. “Everyone’s down at the pool.”
Something seemed to register in her eye, like she was putting puzzle pieces together in her head.
“There’s another party?” she asked.
There was a distinct strength in her voice, and it didn’t match her otherwise reticent body language. It was weird; something was off. But then again, who was I to judge?
“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” I questioned.
“Damn… am I early or late?” she asked.
“It’s winding down—sorry, I didn’t get your name,” I stuck my hand out. “I’m Jaxon.”
“My name is J—I’m Suzy.”
And then all the lights went out.
“Monica? Cassie?” I called out to silence.
An ethereal haze of red and magenta bled out from behind me and into the hall, casting a great silhouette over ‘Suzy’s’ petrified stance.
But it wasn’t my shadow, no, the shape of the silhouette was far more menacing, and larger. It was a shape I recognized, because I’d been seeing it all night.
A round head, with tapered ears and wings spanning out on either side, casting the rest of the hallway in darkness.
And then I turned around.
It was Barry.
Barry the Bear-Bat.
And he was enormous.
The redheaded girl screamed in absolute terror, then started fumbling under her skirt as I immediately acted by grabbing the woman in a swooping tackle.
“Move!” I shouted, turning her away from Barry before taking her hand in mine and leading her away, further down the hall.
But Barry didn’t move. He just stood ominously in the doorway, a silent gatekeeper. When I was convinced he wouldn’t pursue, I started to look forward just as the woman screamed again.
We were standing in front of Barry again, like we’d been running toward him rather than away.
“Huh,” I uttered, then punched him right in his big fluffy heart-shaped tummy, only for my arm to sink into it like quicksand.
I pulled it out in confusion, then started looking for other exits. That was when my mortified damsel finally took out what she’d been reaching for.
A gun, strapped to her inner thigh.
She pulled it on Barry and aimed at its belly, pulling the trigger as the muzzle flash lit up its lifeless, beady pink eyes.
The shell casings fell to the carpeted floor, she slipped on one as she turned to get away, only to stumble against its belly, being pulled in with a look of utter horror on her face.
I grabbed her arm and pulled, but the suction was too strong. Barry continued to absorb ‘Suzy’ as I did my best to save her, confused beyond belief at what the fuck I was dealing with.
And then a cascading swirl of blue heralded the arrival of a gorgeous goth girl wearing a bikini, like a goddess stepping through shattered glass.
“Barry stop it!” she shouted. “Put them down right now!”
The lights and colors of the world returned to normal, with me suddenly falling forward and pinning the woman to the ground as a rolling thud dropped from somewhere close.
“Jax!” Cassie called out as she ran into the living room with a worried Monica.
“What happened?” Monica stepped forward. “I heard a scream and then—“
Mimi was suddenly standing in the middle of the room holding Barry in front of her tummy, clutching him against herself while looking at us with a face of concern.
Traces of glowing light faded from her purple eye, which she covered by turning away as the woman beneath me heavily respirated.
“I’m sorry, Jax,” Mimi said. “She shouldn’t have lied.”
“You’re a Mutable…” I said, looking up at Mimi as she stepped back.
“Mimi?” Cassie breathed, looking at Mimi with incredulous inquiry.
And then Monica bent over to pick up what had fallen from the redheaded woman’s skirt before staring in shocked umbrage as she hissed. “A cop?”
I looked up at what Monica was holding out.
It was a badge.
***
I knew there was a reason Mimi’s presence felt familiar, because it was the same way I tracked the Mutables I hunted. I could sense their presence, metaphorically sniffing them out.
But now we had another issue.
A detective had made her way into our midst, and I had to decide what to do with her.
The woman was clearly hardened from the things that she’d seen, but the horror episode with an apparently sentient stuffed animal had her doing the thousand yard stare.
And I had questions for both of them.
I kept the officer’s gun in my hand while standing with my arms crossed across from the couch where she was sitting, with Cassie and Monica defensively behind me while Mimi sat on the other segment of the L couch, Barry clutched in hand.
“I’m going to need you to answer very clearly, and honestly,” I stated with a sidelong glance at Mimi, who kept a fairly solemn if not curious face while I questioned the redheaded woman. “Who are you, and why are you here?”
She went from staring distantly, to quickly eyeballing all of us before glaring at me. “My name is Detective Jenna O’Brien, and you are a suspect in my investigation.”
“And you came with no backup?” I noted with a narrowing gaze, tapping her gun against my bicep. “How’d you find me?”
“It wasn’t hard to find you,” Jenna’s eyes shifted toward Monica. “You should be more careful about what you post online.”
Monica immediately spoke up. “You’ve been creepin’ my socials, bitch?”
“It’s not creeping when you’re the one doing all the flexing,” Jenna stared exasperatedly. “It was part of my investigation. Tarika, I think her name was? She didn’t appreciate it, apparently.”
“Fucking snitch… So now you’re talking to the opps?”
“She didn’t snitch; she didn’t know she was talking to a detective. Why do you think I look this good?”
Monica started taking off her earrings and stalk forward. “Okay now we’re fighting. Get your ass up!”
I held up my hand to de-escalate. “Babe? Chill.”
Monica stiffened, turning her face to look at me with an expression of surprise. “I’m ‘Babe’ now?”
“I’ll work out the nicknames later,” I replied as I stepped forward toward Jenna. “Right now, I want to know why you came alone. I don’t hear any sirens, and you didn’t lead with the badge.”
“Which I’d appreciate you giving back,” Jenna retorted.
I held out my left hand with my palm up, keeping my gaze on the cop with a stern expression. Monica sighed in disappointment and placed the badge she’d picked up in my hand.
With a light clutch, I moved toward her feet and held out the badge by its stainless-steel bead chain necklace, dropping it into her hand.
“And my gun,” Jenna followed up with a bold, furrowed gaze.
“Before I do that,” I said while kneeling down, “I’m going to give you this one warning. Don’t try to use it, and don’t bother trying to shoot me. All you’re gonna do is piss me off. Am I clear?”
Jenna’s eyes searched mine, her ornery stare giving way to hesitant understanding. “Okay.”
“Good girl,” I said, plopping the gun down into her palm with a firm glare. “Now put it away.”
Jenna did as she was told, spreading her legs and pulling one knee up, giving me a nice flash of her red panties as she re-holstered the gun on her inner thigh. I stood back up and crossed my arms again, body blocking her from Cassie and Monica.
Mimi murmured sheepishly. “I wanna be called good girl…”
“I’ll get to you in a moment, Mimi,” I said more softly before turning to look at her. “Why don’t you go get dressed? Cassie, go with her.”
Mimi hopped to her feet, causing her delectable double D’s to nearly jiggle out of her bikini top before shooting me a relieved smile.
“Thanks for not killing me! I saw your big gun,” Mimi voiced as she walked to my right side and kissed me on the cheek. “You’re not gonna kill me, are you?”
“We’ll talk,” was all I said, feeling the warmth spread from where her black lips contacted my face. “Go cover up.”
“Why?”
“Your body is distracting.”
Mimi grinned mischievously. “You can see more if you let me live.”
“I’m not gonna k—“ I sighed up to the dark ceiling. “Cassie? Please do something with her.”
“Come on, come on,” Cassie encouraged, outstretching her arm to take Mimi’s hand and lead her back to the bedroom.
“Monica, go with them,” I ordered.
“Are you sure?” Monica asked reticently.
“I don’t want you catching strays in case our detective’s trigger finger gets a little twitchy.”
“Okay…” Monica said, touching my forearm to look up at my face before scowling at Jenna. “I don’t care if he is bulletproof, I’mma beat your ass if you shoot him.”
“Noted,” Jenna retorted curtly.